take back the tech!

An unprecedented achievement for the study and prevention of further violence against women in Cambodia was announced last month with the opening of a Women and Gender Studies Centre in the capital city Phnom Penh.

Boyfriends and girlfriends rarely make commitments and plans to delete private photographs of each other when they snap them. What happens when the relationship breaks down and one of them decides to post them online? What about the people who receive and forward the images and videos? In each act of viewing and forwarding, they are continuing and replicating the violence. APC is launching a new campaign to stop the spread of violence by committing not to forward abusive messages. We invite you to take a stand.

From radio dramas by a student theatre collective, to an sms helpline for migrant Filipinas working abroad, to web-based technology to help victims of violence in ex US military bases, five organisations that work with women and ICTs are being awarded with small grants to implement these projects through the APC Women’s Networking Support Programme’s (WNSP) Take Back the Tech! to end violence against women project, which targets the third Millennium development goal on equality for women.

Take Back the Tech!As part of APC’s MDG3: Take Back the Tech! to end violence against women campaign, international news agency IPS has partnered with APC to report on the intersection of ICTs and violence against women around the world. In these three articles, IPS reports on how women are targeted for cyber crimes in Pakistan, are using technology to build self-esteem in Argentina, and are experiencing greater gender-based violence due to an increase in ICT use in Uganda.